A Fable William Faulkner | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

…thinking how war and drink are the two things man is never too poor to buy.

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Faulkner often used Christian allegory and biblical inferences in his stories and novels and A Fable is one such novel for which he won the Pulitzer Prize of 1954. A Fable is a war novel based on World War I. A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the effects of or recovering from war. A Fable is an example of a modern allegory full of Christian symbolism. The story expresses the end of World War 1 in the trenches of France as a result of soldiers’ mutiny. The soldier’s mutiny soon turns into a mass movement inspired forcing the leaders to end the war.

Summary

A Fable is full of allegorical inferences. It talks about the struggle of the Christ-like Corporal Stephan who is widely known as “the corporal” in the novel. He is fighting for the French army in the trenches of World War I.

The novel begins in 1918. Four years after the beginning of the horrific warfare of World War I, a mysterious corporal of the French army convinces his 12 fellow officers to stop fighting. He is tired of killing enemies and seeing his soldiers being killed. He preaches and convinces his fellow officers to opt for peace by simply denying to fight anymore. His disciples promise to follow him, along with “the corporal” they convince Three Thousand other soldiers of their battalion to initiate a military mutiny by refusing to fight. The whole battalion of 3000 soldiers decides to lay down their weapons. Neither they leave the trenches nor they shoot any other shot.

The German soldiers wonder this sudden silence. While they are expected to mercilessly crush these French mutineers, they realize the importance of peace too, and respond in the same manner by dropping their own weapons. The situation turns into a truce and as the French and German soldiers communicate, they realize that the power to put an end to this meaningless fight is in their own hands.

While the foot soldiers and common citizens are happy about the truce, the higher political and military officers feel as if power is slipping out of their hands. They realize that the entire facade of their ruling power depends on their ability to wager the war again. This sudden truce makes them feel as if they are not at all required. The French and German higher officials arrange a meeting and decide to find out the reason for this truce and break it as soon as possible to reinitiate the war.

The allied generals inspecting the french trenches ordered the arrest of all the 3000 soldiers who refused to battle. All the prisoners were brought to Chaulnesmont, a French town. The ruling class spreads propaganda against these soldiers and this creates a mob frenzy. Locals demand execution of these soldiers however, soon the Generalissimo realizes that not all soldiers but the twelve officers leading them are to be blamed. They further come to know that the leader of these twelve soldiers is ‘the corporal’ or Corporal Stephan.

The Generalissimo orders execution of Corporal Stephan who again peacefully accepts the execution showing his adherence to pacifism. After his execution, his dead body is sent to his wife and his sisters who bury him in Vienne-la-Pucelle.

Meanwhile, the German and French soldiers continue to meet with each other in the trenches, and even after the execution of Corporal Stephen, it appears that the war is at its end. But the rulers succeed in causing confusion and one day, artillery from both sides resume while attacking the peaceful congregants. This again resumes the war.

As the conflict resumes, a barrage of artillery destroys the grave of Corporal Stephan and his spirit is freed. The corporal’s spirit then transfers into a British message runner who again starts spreading the message of peace and pacifism. Finally, this British message runner confronts the Generalissimo and defeats him to bring peace.

Alongside this main story, a loosely related story of an injured American racehorse is also being told. The racehorse is injured and about to face execution. However, his rider and trainer are very fond of him and they somehow rescue him from being executed. He then runs away with the horse and travels through various small towns where the horse still continues to win races even though the horse is running only on his three legs. The rider then becomes a sentry. He adopts a new identity and is sent to Europe to join the war.

Analysis

A Fable is highly allegorical. Corporal Stephan is shown christ and he is generally addressed as ‘the corporal’ throughout the novel. Faulkner has blatantly used Christ’s allusion to describe Corporal Stephan. He gathers twelve disciples, he is aged 33 at the time of mutiny and his execution. The night before his execution he had the last supper along with his twelve disciples including the one who betrayed him. Furthermore, the name of his mother is Marya and his lover is a prostitute from the city of Marseilles.

The whole action of the novel parallels with the span of Christian Holy Week, with the triumphant entry, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, the resurrection. After his execution, his grave is destroyed as a result of German artillery and his spirit resurrects. Even his name Corporal Stephan alludes to Christianity and resembles Saint Stephan who is mentioned in the New Testament and is widely considered as the first martyr in the history of the Christian Church.

The main theme of the novel is Pacifism and strong opposition to the war. The novel finely describes the absurdity and destructivity of war and how some of the power grabbers always want to continue the war. The novel further shows military authority in a bad light.

Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize of 1954 for this novel and he said that A Fable is "the best work of my life and maybe of my time". He began writing this novel during the last weeks of the Second World War and the Korean War began when he finished this novel. Obviously, he wanted this novel to be a strong satirical pacifist message against war. Another novel with similar themes was Catch 22 which was written by Joseph Heller.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Aeropagitica by John Milton, Summary, Analysis and Background

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Milton wrote a strong polemic in 1644 that continues to be one of the most influential philosophical documents in support of the liberty of the press and freedom of speech and expression.

The title of this polemic was Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England. John Milton wrote it while opposing licensing and censorship.

Milton was a supporter of Presbyterian against the Royalists and he supported the abolition of Charle’s Ist’ Star Chamber by Presbyterians in 1641. After that, the Presbyterians gained power in the Parliament and they were no longer oppressed and hence, they decided to curb the freedom of the press again as they were worried that the works supporting the King may weaken their position. In addition, the Parliamentarians also wanted to keep control over radical Presbyterians and independents. As a result, Parliament passed the Licensing Order of 1643. This Licensing Order reintroduced almost all the stringent regulations on the press that were imposed by the Star Chamber. However, now the licensing power was in the hands of Parliamentarians.

Despite being an ardent supporter of Presbyterians against the Monarchy, Milton took a stand and chose to oppose the Licensing Order of 1643. He already had confronted Puritans over the issue of Divorce during the time when he wrote the four Doctrines on Divorce. He had suffered the ill effects of censorship and thus he offered his philosophical and reason-based opposition to the Licensing Order of 1643.

While the title of this work suggests that it was a speech that John Milton presented to the Parliament of England, it was not a speech. Rather, Milton printed pamphlets of this work and distributed them openly while directly confronting the Licensing Order according to which every author was required to get a pre-publication license before publishing their work.

Summary

Milton begins Aeropagitica by complimenting the Parliament for overcoming the tyranny of Charles Ist. Then he defines the benefits of constructive criticism over false flattery. He then wishes the Parliament to follow the voice of reason and to support truth and upright judgment.

Milton then discusses the history of the licensing system. He mentions that the ancient civilizations including Greeks and Romans never practiced licensing. He mentions that there were cases when blasphemous or libelous books were burnt and their authors were punished but that happened only after the production of such texts when these were rejected, not before it. He further sheds light on the history of licensing of the press by mentioning that the first time licensing was used to curb the freedom of speech and expression was by Catholics during the periods of Inquisition.

English Parliament was full of prominent Protestants and there were strong conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in England. Milton pointed out how the Catholic Popes turned into licensing tyrants during the inquisition. He mentioned how heretical books were prohibited. He also mentioned how not only heretical but books unfavorable to friars were also prohibited and hence, there could be no positive criticism.

Milton then discusses the objective of the Licensing Order and how it will fail to achieve the objective. He says that the order is meant to stop the availability of bad books but even the Bible had been historically limited and censored to readers for containing offensive descriptions of blasphemy and wicked men. He further says that even if such books are censored to restrict the spread of ‘infection,’ those men who have already read them will continue to spread the message through other recreational means. Hence, the order will prove to be futile. Milton further points out that it will require huge manpower to correctly check every book before it is published that it will contain no offensive message. Milton suggests that better would be to let any book be published and if the readers point out and complain about the content of that book, then it can be prohibited and its copy can be destroyed. He says that licensing books cannot possibly prevent societal corruption as there will be other means to spread the same infection. "If we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectifie manners, we must regulate all recreations and pastimes, all that is delightful to man".

Milton points out that even if there are men capable to check and make judgments about censoring a book even before it is published, they may commit mistakes. Furthermore, he points out that the basis of censoring will remain subjective and arbitrary judgment of the licenser. He says that it will be dishonoring and derogatory to those authors who produce their works with genuinely good intentions.

Milton says that this Licensing Order is akin to believing that only the Government has a monopoly over truth and understanding which is not a good sign for the future of England. He says that this Licensing Order will promote conformity and laziness. He says that such an order will hinder the discovery and progress of truth by governmental biases and prejudices. He suggests that there will always be more truth to be found and revealed than we already know. Milton says that if there is God’s plan, governmental licensing order will interrupt it as it is a power to silence others through whom God may suggest new ways.

In this essay, Milton strongly opposed the Licensing Order that made it mandatory for all publishers to get permission from the government before publishing any work. However, Milton didn’t put forth the libertarian idea of the right to free speech and expression as he says that after a book or work of literature is published and it is found to be offensive, blasphemous, or libelous, it can be completely destroyed and the author and publisher can be punished by the authority. In a way, Milton’s only point is to let all sorts of works be published freely to be evaluated afterward if they require any censorship, he strongly opposes prior censorship of literary works. However, he shows a degree of tolerance to all sorts of authors as he says,

“I mean not tolerated Popery, and open superstition, which as it extirpates all religions and civil supremacies, so itself should be extirpated, provided first that all charitable and compassionate means be used to win and regain the weak and the misled.”

While Milton was a supporter of Presbyterians and he vociferously supported Parliamentarians against the Royalists during the civil war, he was at odd against the Parliament during the time when this Licensing Order was issued. He already had argued against the Parliament for individual rights in his Doctrines of Divorce and he experienced the effects of censorship by himself. The Puritan society of England resisted Milton’s revolutionary ideas but later on, they were incorporated in case of Divorce as the Westminster Assembly of Faith allowed divorce to be legal in case of adultery and abandonment in 1650. On the other hand, his opposition against the Licensing Order didn’t win immediate support as the Licensing Order continued till 1695.

So this is it about Aeropagitica. We will continue to discuss other major works of John Milton. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Requiem For a Nun is the sequel of William Faulkner’s earlier novel Sanctuary and it tells the story of Temple Drake after she returns from Sanctuary in Paris. We learned that she was abducted and raped by Pompey who kept her in a brothel. Being impotent, Pompey forced a fellow criminal Red to exploit Temple under his watch. Temple was too frightened of Pompeye and she had guilt feeling that she was actually enjoying her being exploited to some extent. She realizes that she is in love with Red but before she could strengthen her relationship with Red, Pompeye kills him. She had written some letters to Red that were collected by his younger brother Pete who used them to further blackmail and exploit Temple.

The title of this sequel contains ‘Nun’ which can refer to either someone who sacrifices herself to save the sinners, and it has also been used as an Elizabethan era slang meaning a prostitute.

Characters of Requiem for a Nun

Nancy Mannigoe is a black drug addict and occasional prostitute whom Temple Drake hires as her nursemaid to take care of her kids. Temple Drake has been married to Gowan Stevens and is now Mrs. Temple Stevens. Eight years ago, because of the irresponsible behavior of Gowan, Temple fell in hands of a bunch of bootleggers and criminals and was forced to live a short life as a prostitute and sex slave of a criminal named Popeye. Popeye is now dead. Gowan Stevens marries Temple after that out of a sense of responsibility. The two have settled back in the well-to-do society of Jefferson and now they have two kids. Gavin Stevens is the uncle of Gowan Stevens. Pete is the younger brother of Red, whom Temple once loved during her days in the brothel of Miss Reba.

Summary of Requiem for a Nun

The story begins with Nancy Mannigoe facing a trial for murdering Temple’s six months old daughter. Nancy is found guilty and is sentenced to death. However, Gavin Stevens, uncle, and guardian of Gowan Stevens aren’t satisfied. He feels that Temple is withholding some information about the murder of his six-month-old granddaughter.

Eight years ago, Temple returned from Sanctuary in Paris to Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha county along with her father. She suffered extreme torture and rape by Popeye who while himself was impotent and unable to have sex, used other things to rape her, like a corncob. He further forced Temple to live in a brothel and made her have sex with one of his fellow criminals Red, in front of him. Temple couldn’t fight and gradually, she started liking her life in the brothel. She even fell in love with Red. The hard events had such an impression on her that she offered false testimony in court to save Popeye because of which Lee Goodwin was sentenced to death for the murder of Tommy, and was later lynched. Tommy was the only one of the bootleggers who along with Ruby Lamar, tried to protect Temple. Tommy was shot dead by Popeye while he was trying to safeguard Temple. Later on, when Popeye felt that Temple might have fallen in love with Red, he murdered Red too. While Temple was recovered by her father from the brothel and was taken to Sanctuary for treatment, Popeye was caught for some crime that he might not have actually committed and was sentenced to death.

After her return from Sanctuary, Gown Stevens married her as he couldn’t face the guilt of causing all the mishaps and mistreatment that Temple was forced to go through because of his careless behavior. With time, Temple and Gowan both were recovering from their dark past and now they were a happy couple with two children. Temple gave birth to a girl child six months ago and she decided to take the help of Nancy Mannigoe as a nursemaid to keep care of her kids. However, Temple had other reasons too to appoint Nancy. Nancy was a black drug addict and occasional prostitute. Temple chose her as she was the only one in her home with whom Temple could discuss and share experiences of her life in the brothel of Miss Reba. Temple was yet not able to forget her past and in a way, she had some sweet memories of those times that she didn’t want to give away.

On the other hand, Red’s younger brother Pete finds some letters written by Temple to his dead brother. He comes to know that Temple was in love with Red and decides to blackmail her for some money. He visits Jefferson and meets Temple, threatening her of revealing her secret love for Red to her family, and asks for monetary help. Temple is afraid and somewhat impressed by Pete’s threatening attitude. She again finds her passion in Pete and not only decides to offer him what he asked for but to elope with him too.

Gowan’s uncle Gavin knew Nancy for a long and he knew that she was trying to overcome her drug addiction. He finds it unlikely that Nancy will murder such a cute kid for whom she was chosen as a nursemaid. He decides to defend her in court and finds that Temple is withholding some information about the murder. Gavin confronts Temple in absence of Gowan and asks her to inform him exactly how her daughter was killed. Temple says that Nancy was neither mentally ill nor she had criminal intent, yet she murdered the kid. Temple further says that there were some reasons for which Nancy killed the baby. Gavin implores Temple to say more but Temple decides to avoid answering anymore and goes away to California on an extended trip.

Now when Gavin knows that Nancy wasn’t wholly responsible for the murder of the kid, he tries to save her with more intent but fails. Just one week before Nancy’s scheduled execution, Temple returns from her long trip. She arranges a meeting with Gavin in absence of Gowan. She drugs Gowan with sleeping pills, which he dodges without her knowledge. Believing that Gowan is in deep sleep, he calls Gavin to discuss Nancy and the murder of her six-month-old daughter. She tells Gavin that though Nancy did kill her baby but she also had a hand in that murder and wants to help Gavin in saving Nancy’s life. Gavin says that it is already too late and she must directly visit the Governor of Mississippi to appeal and urge him to stop Nancy’s execution. Gowan overhears all this conversation and vows to know all the truth.

The day before Nancy’s execution, Temple visits Governor’s office at Jefferson, Mississippi. She sees that Governor is sitting in the officer but his face is on the opposite side of her. She decides to confess and says that before her daughter’s murder, she had already planned to leave her husband and kids and run away with Pete, the younger brother of her former lover Red. She informs him that she met Red during the days of her abduction when she was forced to live in a brothel. She informed how Popeye forced her to have sex with Red in front of him and later on, she started liking and loving Red. When Popeye came to know this, he murdered Red and Temple was devastated. Though she returned from Sanctuary in Paris to lead a normal life in Yoknapatawpha county, she could never forget her experiences of being an abductee of Popeye and her days in the brothel. Later on, Red’s younger brother Pete visited her with some letter that she wrote to Red. He started blackmailing her. Pete reminded her of Red and her old days. She was impressed by his dominating attitude and felt love for him and proposed to run away with him. Nancy was too close to her and she came to know about her plan to leave her family. Nancy tried everything possible to stop her from eloping with Pete and while doing so, she smothered her baby as a final attempt to stop Temple from running away, while Nancy knew it will cost her own life. Temple urges the Governor to stop the execution of Nancy but to her surprise, she comes to know that the Governor had already rejected the clemency appeal of Nancy and had left the office much before she visited there.

She soon comes to know that the person to whom she confessed her guilt was none other than her own husband Gowan. Gowan then faces her and says that he too is sorry for initiating the chain of events that led her to the current state, had he not shown irresponsibility eight years ago, Temple might not have been abducted and raped by Popeye. Gowan says that the past is unchangeable and over and goes out. Temple remains there, standing and worrying about her own salvation.

The next day, before her execution, Temple and Gavin go to meet Nancy. Temple tells her how she tried her best to save her by trying to confess in front of the Governor. She says that Nancy was not solely responsible for the murder of her daughter. Nancy says that now Temple must live to face the consequences of her actions. Nancy praises God and extols the virtues of suffering while accepting her execution.

This is it for today. We have discussed the whole story of Temple Drake composed in the novels Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun. We will continue to discuss other works of William Faulkner. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Sanctuary by William Faulkner | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 Sanctuary by William Faulkner | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Faulkner introduced Temple Drake, one of his most successful characters of the fictional Yoknapatawpah county in 1931 through his fifth novel titled Sanctuary. He again wrote another novel titled Requiem for a Nun in 1951 that was a sequel to Sanctuary and continued the story of Temple Drake.

William Faulkner said that he wrote this novel to make financial gains and was not internally motivated for its story. He said, “To me, it is a cheap idea, because it was deliberately conceived to make money. ... I took a little time out, and speculated what a person in Mississippi would believe to be current trends, chose what I thought would be the right answer and invented the most horrific tale I could imagine.” However, with time, this novel by Faulkner proved to be one of his best tragic horror stories. It is one such novel in which villainy simply outweighs heroism.

Characters of Sanctuary

Temple Drake is a student at the University of Mississippi. She belongs to a rich family, the daughter of a prestigious judge. She is young, beautiful, voluptuous, and infamous for being a fast girl. A fast girl is a promiscuous girl who doesn’t indiscriminate against her sexual partners. Popeye is a criminal with a dark past. He is connected to the Memphis Underworld. He is physically impotent. He rapes Temple Drake with a corncob and then abducts her and keeps her in a room at a brothel as his sex slave. Lee Goodwin is a bootlegger, employer of Popeye, and Tommy. Lee Goodwin is wrongly accused of murdering Tommy, he is then convicted and lynched as Temple Drake gives wrong and untrue testimony against him. Tommy is a half-wit member of Lee Goodwin’s bootlegging crew. He is murdered by Popeye while trying to protect Temple Drake. Horace Benbow is a lawyer who represents Lee Goodwin's trial for Tommy’s murder. He is intelligent and well-intentioned yet fails to save Goodwin against Temple’s false testimony. He is facing a troubled marriage. Ruby Lamar is Lee Goodwin’s common-law wife, that is, she is not actually married to him but lives with him and bears his children. Nobody liked her in the city for living a sinful life with a criminal like Goodwin. Gowan Stevens is a self-centered alcoholic irresponsible man who takes Temple to the Goodwin House. He runs away abandoning Temple alone to face Popeye. Miss Reba is a brothel owner where Popeye takes and keeps Temple. Red is a petty criminal whom Popeye forces to have sex with Temple as he watches because he is impotent. Later on, he kills Red as he feels that Temple may fall in love with him. Narcissa Sartoris is Horace’s sister, she is vain and self-absorbed but helps her brother. Pensacola is Horace’s estranged wife.

Summary of Sanctuary

In May 1929, Horace Benbow leaves his home in Kinston, Mississippi after a fight with his wife and reaches Jefferson, his hometown in Yoknapatawpah county. He decides to go to his widowed sister Narcissa Sartoris’s house where she lives with her son and mother-in-law aunt Jenny. On the way to his sister’s home, he stops at Old Frenchman Homestead to drink some water. This place is occupied by Lee Goodwin, a notorious bootlegger. Horace encounters Popeye, a criminal associate of Lee, and they stare at each other. Popeye takes him to meet Lee Goodwin and other gang members. Popeye introduces Benbow as "Professor." Benbow meets Ruby Lamar, a twenty-something woman who serves as the cook. Ruby is considered to be Goodwin's wife although it is not a legal arrangement. Horace rests at the plantation and leaves for Jefferson at night as he gets a ride. He reaches Narcissa's home and they argue over him leaving his wife at Kinston. Horace meets Gowan Stevens, a local young man who has been courting Narcissa. Horace leaves his sister’s house and goes to his paternal house that has been vacant since his parents’ death.

Gowan is a rich brat belonging to a wealthy family who just returned from the University of Virginia where he got alcoholic. He has a date with Temple Drake, a student of the University of Mississippi, daughter of a reputed Judge of Jefferson. Temple Drake is infamous as a promiscuous girl. During the date, Temple and Gowan make a plan to go to Starksville the next morning by train. However, after leaving Temple at her home, Gowan engages in drinking and passes off. In the morning, he wakes up late and finds that Temple has already left. He rides by his vehicle and catches Temple at the next station and suggests that they should drive together to Starksville. Temple agrees even though it was against the University rules.

During the travel, Gowan decides to stop at Old Frenchman Place to get some alcohol. When he reaches there, he crashes his car to an old fallen tree that Popeye kept across the drive to avert police in case of a raid. Luckily, Tommy sees them and helps them recover. He takes them to the mansion where they meet Popeye and others. Lee Goodwin was away from the plantation. Temple realizes that something bad is about to happen as she is terrified by Gowan’s strange behavior and these strange people.

Temple meets Ruby, who immediately sees that the young girl does not belong at the plantation or anywhere in her world. Ruby tries to convince Temple to leave the plantation. Temple tries to convince Gowan to leave but she fails as Popeye offers more whiskey to Gowan. After the nightfall, Goodwin returns to the plantation and he gets upset after knowing that Temple and Gowan are staying for the night. He also joins Popeye, Gowan, and Van, another member of his bootlegging gang, and starts drinking. Ruby told Temple not to be with the men in the same room but she didn’t listen and chose to remain with Gowan. Van knowingly provokes Gowan to start an argument. He then moves towards Temple with a sinister plan. Gowan realizes that he needs to protect Temple and intervenes and then Van starts a fight with him and beats him. Temple gets distressed, she is fearful of bootleggers and she is worried that her family reputation will be ruined if people come to know that instead of attending her school, she is spending the night with bootleggers. She is condescending and this angers Popeye.

Gowan is taken to another room and Temple throws him on a bed. Tommy and Ruby try their best to protect Temple. In the morning, Gowan decides to run away abandoning Temple at the plantation. Tommy realizes the situation and tries to protect Temple by hiding her in a corn crib in the barn. When Popeye comes to know that Gowan has left Temple, he devises a sinister plan and starts looking for her. Soon he finds Tommy and Temple in the barn. As Tommy tries to intervene, he shoots him dead. After killing Tommy, Popeye rapes Temple using a corncob as he is impotent. After raping and enjoying her body thoroughly, he puts her in his car and drives away to Memphis, Tennesse, where he has some underworld connections.
At Jefferson, Goodwin is accused and jailed for the murder of Tommy. Horace, being a lawyer takes up the case of Goodwin and soon comes to know that Popeye murdered Tommy and abducted Temple. He tries to help Ruby Lamar and her children but her sister Narcissa refuses to help.

Meanwhile, Popeye keeps Temple in a room at a brothel owned by Miss Reba. Miss Reba is too much impressed by Popeye as she finds Temple a great catch. Popeye continues to torment Temple and he starts bringing Red, another criminal of Memphis to his room at the brothel to have sex with Temple while he watches.

One day, a co-worker of Temple’s father visits the brothel and sees Temple. He informs her father about Temple’s whereabout and Horace also gets the information after paying that man. Horace visits the brothel and meets Temple in absence of Popeye. Temple tells him her ordeal and how she is continually being raped. Horace tells her to help him save Lee Goodin by giving a testimony that Popeye had murdered Tommy. However, Temple has lost her innocence and will to return to the old respected world. When a servant of Miss Reba lets Temple leave, she decides to go to Popeye instead of meeting Horace. Popeye takes her to a house where he is living with Red. Temple tries to have furtive sex with Red but he repels her. Popeye notices that Temple might be in love with red. He decides to send Temple back to the brothel while he kills Red. However, when Miss Reba comes to know that Popeye has murdered Red, she turns against him and throws them out.

In Jefferson, Horace argues in court to save Goodwin. The next day, Temple surprisingly arrives in the court and gives false testimony against Goodwin. She says that Goodwin murdered Tommy and raped her. Horace is devastated as he loses the case and Goodwin is sentenced. The crowd gets mad and Goodwin is lynched and set ablaze by the crowd. The crowd also talks of lynching Benbow, the lawyer who tried to save such a sinister man but Benbow somehow escapes. When he reaches back to his home, he finds his wife Pensacola who visited to see him.

After some days, Popeye is caught for some other crime that he didn’t actually commit. He is sentenced and hanged. Temple returns to his father who takes her to a Sanctuary in Paris, France to recover.

Analysis of Sanctuary

The novel is a realistic horror story in which evil is shown defeating goodness. Temple is a fast girl who is not afraid of making friends with men but she isn’t a corrupt person. When Popeye abandons her, she finds that she is actually enjoying the torture and degradation she is going through. When she gets a chance to leave and save herself, she decides to go back to Popeye. Popeye is impotent and she tries to make a relationship with Red which he declines while he had sex with her in presence of Popeye. A movie by the title The Story of Temple Drake was made in 1933 and in 1961, a movie titled Sanctuary was released which included the story of its sequel Requiem of Nun too.

In 1007, the Russian movie Cargo 200 also had a similar plot as that of Sanctuary.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss other works by William Faulkner. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Of Education by John Milton | Summary, Analysis, Context

 Of Education by John Milton | Summary, Analysis, Context

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Of Education was a reformative tract written by John Milton in the year 1644. Milton published it as a single eight [age quarto sheet without a publishing date and name of the author. However, it was reprinted and added in John Milton’s collective work titled ‘Poems, etc. upon several Occasions With a small tractate “Of Education — to Mr. Hartlib” in the year 1673.

Of Education offers the views of John Milton about the contemporary education system of England and how it should be changed for improvement. In his own words, this tract represents John Milton’s clearest views “concerning the best and noblest way of education.”

According to Milton, education serves both social and spiritual or moral purposes. On one hand, education helps “fit a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war” on the other hand, education also serves the purpose to “repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love Him, to be like Him, as we may the nearest by possessing our soul of true virtue”

In this essay, Milton is not gender-neutral and he is explicitly suggesting that he is not much concerned with the education of girls as they could not be “brave men and worthy patriots.”

Milton maintained this view throughout his life and even in Paradise Lost, he represented Eve as a submissive, inferior companion of Adam who is a little farther to God than Adam and hence, is lower in the hierarchy. Also, whenever Raphael, Michael, or other Archangels visited Paradise to consult, instruct, or teach Adam, Eve willfully remained absent from the conversation as she preferred to gain all required knowledge from and through Adam (that is, the male companion, or the husband, is the teacher of wife). This Miltonian idea was against his contemporaries such as Moravian educator John Comenius who suggested a pleasurable method of education applicable to and intended for all — boys and girls, the able and the dull, all social ranks.” Even Simon Hartlib and his circle of trusted advisors believed that girls should have equal opportunities for education.

Like John Amos Comenius, Milton proposed a natural method of learning classical languages including Greek and Latin, and devoting much lesser time to learning Grammar. He believes that it would be better for students if they devote more time to reading, learning, and experiencing classical literature during their early years, rather than wasting their time in parroting grammatical rules and regulations that one can understand and learn by themselves while learning literature. According to Hartlib, Comenius, and Milton, the current system of education which was in continuation with the medieval education system and stressed more on the grammar of Latin and Greek rather than books, was a waste of time. Milton stressed that historical and literary study as “steadfast pillars of the State” and believed that the object of education was to make good citizens of the state. Thus students should devote more time in learning historical and literary books instead of wasting their time learning grammar.

Milton got his school education from St. Paul’s School founded by Erasmus and Thomas More and he had their influence on him. Furthermore, he practically applied his ideas of education as he himself ran a school in his home for his nephews and other boys.

While discussing the medieval curriculum in his tract, Milton clarifies that the old education system makes learning generally so unpleasing and unsuccessful. He targets grammar as he is critical both of the amount of time spent on it as well as its mechanical emphasis: “we do amiss to spend seven or eight years merely in scraping together so much miserable Latin and Greek as might be learned otherwise easily and delightfully in one year”.

Milton says that the progress of students is delayed by “forcing the empty wits of children to compose theme, verses, and orations” while he suggests after attaining some basic idea of grammar and language, students should “be won early to the love of virtue” by having “some easy and delightful book of education” from among the ancient classics read to them. The objective is not simply to teach grammar, but to “inflame [students] with the study of learning”. This, for Milton, was best accomplished through the reading of great literature.

Milton supported the humanistic approach to education against the medieval didactic process of learning. The humanistic theory is composed of three beliefs: first, that education disciplines one in preparation for life as an active citizen; second, that in-depth readings of ancient writers is a critical facet of this discipline; and third, an animosity towards medieval educational practices, which emphasized scholasticism over public life. Milton suggested that education should inspire as it challenges, “infusing into [students’] young breasts such an ingenious and noble ardor, as would not fail to make many of them renowned and matchless men.”

Milton further criticized the sequence of medieval curriculum as he derides the medieval practice of presenting their young unmatriculated novices, at the first coming, with the most intellective abstractions of logic and metaphysics after having only recently left “those grammatic flats and shallows where they stuck unreasonably to learn a few words with lamentable construction."

Instead, he suggested that young students should begin with the easiest arts that are most obvious to the senses. Instead of the deductive method, he supported the inductive method of education that should start with sensible things that students can practical experience. He suggests that students should progress to learning, harder, abstract, invisible things only after mastering the former, practical, empirical inductive education. Thus, while the art of logic and rhetoric was the main base of Medieval education, Milton suggested that rhetoric and logic must be taught at the end. Furthermore, Milton believes that students should be introduced to poetry along with other soft easy arts at the beginning of education as he says that poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed, rather precedent, as being less subtle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate.

Thus Milton proposed a curriculum that included grammar, arithmetic, geometry, religion, agriculture, geography, astronomy, physics, trigonometry, ethics, economics, languages, politics, the law, theology, church history, poetry, rhetoric, and logic. Milton believed that students should be prepared to be good, successful, productive citizens of the state in the future.

So this is about the Tracts Of Education by John Milton. We will continue to discuss his other works. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The Divorce Tracts by John Milton and other prose works

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Milton began as a poet but after the publication of Lycidas in 1637, he actively took part in the civil unrest and started publishing prose works, tracts, and pamphlets in favor of Puritan and Parliamentarian cause. He enthusiastically wrote many texts and pamphlets against episcopacy. From 1640 to 1660, John Milton predominantly wrote prose works. One of his earliest prose works was Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England which was published in 1641.

Of Reformation by John Milton

John Milton often raised and supported the ideas of individual liberty and the limits of social and religious institutions. Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England is a pamphlet with two in which Milton discussed how Anglican Chruch is gradually becoming as corrupt as the Roman Catholic Church is and why the English Church requires stern reformation and changes. Milton further published four more pamphlets on the same line discussing the church hierarchy and Presbyterianism. In Of Reformation, Milton expresses religion as a living body and suggests that proper reformation and changes will improve the body. He further attacks the church system and says that any mediating agency between an individual soul and the Almighty would hinder this pure connection between man and God. He literally criticized the church, government, and liturgy and suggested that these institutions harm the religion. Milton suggests that the Church tries to offer a shape to God while though God does have a shape, it is beyond human perception and thus, any attempt to give a body to God will corrupt the divinity. He metaphorically compares religion with a human body with various parts. In Book II, John Milton offers the Tale of Wen in which Wen tries to establish that he is the supreme and most important part of the body. However, a philosopher appears and discusses the role of Wen and proves that Wen is just a parasite that is exploiting the other parts of the body. Milton then compares the Church system with Wen.

In this pamphlet, Milton opposed the establishment of the Central church government as was the case of the Roman Catholic Church (under Pope) and Anglican Church (headed by the Monarch of England). Instead of central authoritarianism, Milton supported local governance and suggested that individual congregations should govern themselves.

The Divorce Tracts

From August 1643 to March 1645, John Milton published four pamphlets in 18 months and all of them offered his idea of the need for freedom to divorce. He suggested that the freedom to divorce will prove to be beneficial for both sexes. These four tracts were The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, The Judgement of Martin Bucer, Tetrachordon, and Colasterion.

In all these tracts, the central idea was that divorce could be “to the good of both sexes.”

The full title of the first pamphlet was The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: Restor'd to the Good of Both Sexes, From the Bondage of Canon Law and it was published in August 1643. The Judgment of Martin Bucer was published in July 1644 in which he supported the pro-divorce arguments of German protestant reformer Martin Bucer. In Tetrachordon, John Milton offered his viewpoint of the four important scriptural texts about Divorce. These four scriptural passages deal with divorce and these are Genesis1:27–28, Deuteronomy 24:1, Matthew 5:31–32 and 19:2–9, and I Corinthians 7:10–16. Tetrachrodon was published in March 1645, and in the same month, Milton published the fourth tract on divorce titled Colasterion which means “rod of punishment” in Greek.

Background

In June 1642, John Milton got married to Mary Powell, a 17-year-old young girl. He was 34 years old. Mary Powell belonged to a royalist family and she was also a royalist while Milton was a supporter of Parliamentarians. Milton believed that Mary Powell was intellectually inferior to him, also, she was too young to him. Furthermore, while Mary Powell belonged to an affluent family and was raised with all comforts, John Milton lead an austere lifestyle by nature. This created a rift between the newlywed couple and Mary soon decided to desert John Milton alone and went back to her family home. In The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, John Milton not only offered the reason and logic behind his argument for freedom of divorce between an incompatible couple. At that time, the subject of Divorce in England was ruled by the Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. Strictly speaking, divorce was almost forbidden and was only allowed in extreme cases of adultery. Milton couldn’t blame Mary Powel for adultery and hence, his divorce to her was impossible. Milton thus raised the logic of individual volition and personal liberty.

The argument of the Tracts on Divorce

In a way, Milton opposed the Spiritual authority over marriage as mentioned in Matthew 19: 3 – 9 while offering his idea of marriage based on human nature. He opposes marriage as merely a means to procreate or reproduce, or as a remedy against fornication. Rather he emphasizes human nature and why God created an able companion for man. He argues that the purpose of marriage is "the apt and cheerful conversation of man with woman, to comfort and refresh him against the evils of solitary life" Milton says that if a couple is "mistak’n in their dispositions through any error, concealment, or misadventure" for them "spight of antipathy to fadge together, and combine as they may to their unspeakable wearisomnes and despaire of all sociable delight" violates the purpose of marriage as mutual companionship. Thus, according to Milton, if a married couple finds that they are mutually incompatible and cannot bear being with each other, they must be allowed to legally and respectfully divorce each other.

Milton continued to support and express his idea of the purpose of marriage and did so even in Paradise Lost in which he describes how Adam felt lonely while observing other animals enjoying the fruits of companionship. Adam then begs God to offer him a companion and God creates Eve from Adam’s rib.

Achievements of Doctrine on Divorce

Milton vociferously argued in support of the freedom to divorce and raised his argument in front of the Westminister Assembly. He argued that divorce is a private matter. Though his argument was not fully accepted, the Westminster Assembly agreed that in certain circumstances, as in the case of adultery or abandonment, divorce must be allowed. The Westminster Assembly was broadly a Puritan organization. Milton himself was a Puritan. While Puritans were supposed to follow Scriptures word by word, it was a big win for Milton as the Westminster Assembly agreed to loosen the rules on Divorce in special cases of adultery and abandonment. Despite that, Milton couldn’t divorce Mary Powell and in 1645, Mary Powell returned to Milton and both of them successfully led married life.

So this was it about the initial prose works of John Milton. We will continue to discuss his other works in the upcoming videos. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Absalom, Absalom is one of the most successful novels by William Faulkner. Its success, along with the success of The Sound and The Fury paved way for the Nobel prize of literature for William Faulkner. Like his other novels, the story of Absalom, Absalom depicts the deterioration of Southern American society, before, during, and after the American Civil War. It is a southern gothic novel. As the name suggests, Absalom, Absalom is a novel based on Biblical allegorical content. The story involves three families while the central character of the novel is Thomas Sutpen. The title is an allusion to the Biblical King David and his son Absalom, who fought against the empire of King David. The story is narrated by Quentin Compson to his co-student and roommate Sherve at Harvard College. Quentin was also a notable character of The Sound and The Fury and hence, these two novels can be correlated.

Characters of Absalom Absalom!

Thomas Sutpen is the major character of the novel. He buys and develops a plantation named Sutpen’s Hundred at Yoknapatawpah county near Jefferson, Mississippi. He marries Ellen Coldfield to make a dynasty. He is an indomitable, wilful, and powerful man, a shrewd and daring businessman. He is murdered by Wash Jones in 1869.

Charles Bon is the son of Thomas Sutpen and Eulalia Bon. Eulalia is a part-colored daughter of the owner of a Haitian plantation where Thomas Sutpen was an overseer. When Sutpen learns Eulalia’s part black ancestry, he leaves her and their son Charles. Eulalia and Charles then move to New Orleans Henry Sutpen is the son of Thomas Sutpen and Ellen Coldfield. He is the legitimate heir of Sutpen’s Hundred. Judith Sutpen is Thomas and Ellen’s daughter. She is a strong-willed and determined young girl who falls in love with Charles Bon. Goodhue Coldfield is a methodist and respectful merchant, father of Ellen and Rosa Coldfield. Rosa Coldfield is the younger daughter of Goodhue, she is 27 years younger than Ellen. Clytemnestra (Clytie) is another daughter of Thomas Sutpen by a slave woman.

General Compson is the grandfather of Quentin Compson, a friend of Thomas Sutpen. He tells a great deal about Sutpen. Jason Compson III (Mr. Compson) is the son of General Compson, the father of Quentin Compson. He tells part of the story of Thomas Sutpen. Quentin Compson is a young student at Harvard College who tried to tell what the South is like by telling the story of Thomas Sutpen to his friend and roommate Sherve.

Summary of Absalom, Absalom!

The novel depicts the story of Thomas Sutpen which is narrated by various narrators in parts and each part offers a different insight into the life, success, and failure of Thomas Sutpen. Quentin Compson tells this story to Sherve, his roommate with his own interpretations. Quentin learned about Sutpen through Rosa Coldfield. His grandfather was a close friend of Sutpen and he also told his stories to Quentin. Mr. Compson, father of Quentin also narrates a part of Sutpen’s story.

The story of Sutpen is offered in nonchronological order and it begins with Sutpen arriving in Jefferson, Mississippi with some slaves and a French architect whom he managed to work for him. Sutpen buys 100 square miles of land from a local native American tribe and starts building his plantation along with a huge mansion within it. From his early days, Thomas Sutpen had learned that money and power can let a man have all the pleasures that they want. His only desire is to create a huge fortune and have able an able heir to establish his dynasty. To achieve his aim, he decides to marry. He makes friends with a local reputed merchant Mr. Coldfield and proposes to marry his elder daughter Ellen Coldfield. With time, Ellen offers him two children, a son named Henry and a daughter named Judith. Thomas loves his kids and cares a lot for them.

As Henry grows young, he decides to go to the University of Mississippi for higher studies. At the University, he meets Charles Bon and though Charles is ten years senior to him, Henry makes a close friendship with him. He invites and takes Charles to Sutpen’s Hundred for the Christmas leaves. At Sutpen’s Hundred, Charles wins the hearts of everybody with his suave mannerism. Judith starts liking him and soon they fall in love. Charles and Judith express their desire to marry and initially, everybody agrees to the engagement. However, Thomas realizes that Charles appears too much familiar to him. He decides to know more about him and realizes that Charles Bon is his own son from his earlier marriage during the days he used to work as an overseer at a Haitian plantation.

He remembers how he married the daughter of the owner of the Haitian plantation where he used to work. He had a son from his first marriage. However, soon he came to know that his wife, Eulalia Bon was of mixed breed and she had 1/16th lack blood in her birth. Thomas Sutpen couldn’t accept this betrayal and decided to nullify his marriage with Eulalia and leave his wife and son. However, he leaves all his wealth and fortune that he made in Haiti to his wife and son as moral compensation. Eulalia takes her son Charles to New Orleans to start a new life.

Though the family accepts Thomas Sutpen’s decision to cancel the engagement of Charles and Judith, Henry is not satisfied by it and Judith turns rebellious. Henry decides to confront his father and ask for the reason for his opposition to Judith’s marriage with Charles. Sutpen reveals that Charles is Henry’s and Judith’s half-brother, his own son. Henry feels heartbroken. He refuses to believe Thomas and repudiates his birthright. Then he goes away with Charles to his home in New Orleans.

After some time, Charles and Henry return to the University of Mississippi where they enroll as soldiers in the Confederate Army to fight in the Civil War. During the war, Henry continues to face the dilemma of love between his sister Judith and his friend and half-brother Charles. Ultimately, he takes the side of Judith and Charles and decides to let them marry. When Thomas Sutpen comes to know this, he meets Charles and tells him why he left his first wife Eulalia and son Charles. He reveals that Eulalia had part-colored black ancestry and hence Charles is also not pureblood but a mixed breed. This changes Henry’s view about Charles and Judith. Thomas says that Henry must do everything possible to stop them from marrying and Henry agrees. As the Civil War ends, Henry enacts his father's interdiction of marriage between Charles and Judith, killing Charles at the gates to the mansion and then fleeing into self-exile.

Thomas Sutpen also returns from the war and finds out that wanderer northerner Carpetbeggars have captured most of his land and his famous Sutpen's Hundred is now limited to only a square mile area. His wife has already died and his son Henry is in exile. To repair his dynasty again, he proposes Rosa Coldfield, the younger daughter of Ellen to marry him. While Rosa accepts his proposal of marriage, Thomas Sutpen lays a strange and insulting demand that Rosa must bear him a son before the wedding takes place. Rosa declines and she is forced to leave Sutpen Hundred. Thomas makes a cordial relationship with Wash Jones, a squatter who lives on Sutpen’s plantation, and makes an affair with Milly, the 15-year-old granddaughter of Wash Jones. He only desires to have a son, an heir to his fortune but much to his dismay, Milly gives birth to a daughter. On the same night, a female horse in his stable sired a male horse. In his disappointment, Sutpen insults Milly and casts her out of his mansion. He tells her that she and her daughter is not worthy of sleeping even in his stable where a horse gave birth to a male. Milly goes to her grandfather and when Wash Jones hears all this, he feels betrayed and anguished. In his anger, he murders Thomas Sutpen before murdering his own granddaughter and her daughter. Finally, he commits suicide while resisting arrest.

When Quentin comes to know about these tragedies, he decides to visit Sutpen’s Hundred and takes Rosa back to her home. There Quentin and Rosa find Henry and Clytemnestra. Henry is very ill as he suffers in his exile. Clytemnestra, being his half-sister tries to help him. When Rosa finds them, she feels very sad and returns to bring back some medical aid to help and save Henry. However, when Rosa returns with medical men after some three months, Clytemnestra mistakes them to be law enforcement men trying to capture the remaining of Sutpen’s Hundred. She starts firing against them and soon a gunbattle erupts in which Henry and Clytemnestra both die. Now, none of the Sutpen’s family members remains alive except one black grandson of Charles Bon, a young man who is mentally handicapped. His name is Jim Bon and he lives on the Sutpen’s Hundred.

Analysis of Absalom, Absalom!

The story of Thomas Sutpen is told by different characters with their perspective while none of them know the truth about Sutpen. Rosa Coldfield depicts him as a harsh coldblooded man with no compassion. She blames him for ruining Sutpen’s family by rejecting Charles Bon’s marriage to Judith. However, she is unaware of the truth of Charles Bon and doesn’t know that Judith and Charles had the same father and their relationship was incestual. She further doesn’t know that Charles Bon was of mixed breed. Henry opposes his father and agrees to the marriage of Judith and Charles even after knowing that they are brothers and sisters. But when he comes to know about the part black blood of Charles Bon, he decides to oppose their marriage and murders Charles Bon.

The whole story is allegorical and reminds the story of King David and his son Absalom. Absalom was the third son of biblical King David who also had a sister named Tamara. Absalom was the most handsome man in King David’s empire while Tamara was the most beautiful girl. Her half-brother Amnon, who was the eldest son of King David rapes her. Absalom decides to take revenge against him and kills him after two years. In the novel, Thomas Sutpen is depicted as King David while Henry allegorically appears like Absalom who murders Charles Bon, the eldest son of Thomas Sutpen for having an incestuous relationship with his sister. However, while Henry decides to accept incest between Judith and Charles, he couldn’t accept Charles Bon’s partial black blood. This shows the typical hatred of the South against blacks during the times of the Civil War.

This is it about Absalom, Absalom! We will continue to discuss American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!